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Influence and Fields and Discovered Electric Induction, Which Allowed The Large-Scale

Electromagnetism is a fundamental theory that was developed over centuries through the work of many scientists. Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism in a single theory in 1864. This theory has had a profound influence on technology and society. The document introduces some basic mathematical methods and concepts used in formulating electromagnetic theory, such as scalar and vector quantities. Vectors have magnitude and direction and are specified by their Cartesian components with respect to a reference frame.

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17 views1 page

Influence and Fields and Discovered Electric Induction, Which Allowed The Large-Scale

Electromagnetism is a fundamental theory that was developed over centuries through the work of many scientists. Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism in a single theory in 1864. This theory has had a profound influence on technology and society. The document introduces some basic mathematical methods and concepts used in formulating electromagnetic theory, such as scalar and vector quantities. Vectors have magnitude and direction and are specified by their Cartesian components with respect to a reference frame.

Uploaded by

khrid3
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Electromagnetism

influence and fields and discovered electric induction, which allowed the large-scale
production of electricity. Electricity and magnetism were unified in a single theory
by Maxwell in 1864. This long itinerary led to the present technological era with the
considerable influence of electromagnetism and its consequences on our industrial,
economical and cultural environment.
In this chapter, we introduce some basic mathematical methods and some
general invariances and symmetries that we use in the formulation of any theory and
especially electromagnetic theory.
1.1. Scalars and vectors
The basic elementary concepts in the formulation of physical theories are
position and time. The position is specified by the coordinates with respect to a
reference frame Oxyz, supported by a material body and represented by an origin O
and three mutually orthogonal axes. Although these concepts seem to be simple,
their analysis poses deep practical and philosophical questions even in classical
mechanics. In modern physics, their analysis has been one of the corner-stones of
the special theory of relativity (see Chapter 13), general relativity, and quantum
theory.
Some physical quantities are determined by a single algebraic quantity with no
characteristic orientation. Mass, time, temperature, and electric charge are examples
of such quantities; these are scalar quantities. They may be strictly positive (mass,
pressure, etc.), positive or negative (position along an axis, potential energy, electric
charge, etc.), or even complex (wave function, impedance, etc.). Other physical
quantities A are specified, each one by a positive magnitude A and an orientation;
these are said to be vector quantities. Displacement, velocity, acceleration, force,
electric field, magnetic field, etc., are examples of vector quantities. A more precise
definition of a vector quantity is given in section 1.2.
A vector A is conveniently specified by its Cartesian components Ax, Ay and Az
with respect to a frame Oxyz (Figure 1.1a). We may write A = Axex + Ay ey + Az ez,
where ex, ey and ez are the unit vectors of the axes Ox, Oy and Oz; they are the basis
vectors of the reference frame Oxyz. To simplify the writing of summations, we use
the numbers 1, 2 and 3 instead of x, y and z to label the components and we write
A = A1 e1+ A2 e2 + A3 e3 = A e

= 1, 2, and 3

[1.1]

The component A1, for instance, is the projection of A on the axis Ox. It is well
known that the decomposition [1.1] is unique.

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